The Hindu Business Line : Martial Law in Pakistan

There is no place for misplaced sentimentalism in dealing with the mercurial General who rules our western neighbour and is widely distrusted by his own countrymen.

G. Parthasarathy

About a fortnight ago, Pakistan’s Army Chief, Gen Pervez Musharraf, suspended the provisions of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan and proclaimed a “Provisional Constitutional Order”. This action enabled him to sack the country’s assertive Chief Justice, Mr Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhury, and the judges who refused to swear allegiance to an extra-constitutional order that ended judicial independence and denied Pakistani nationals the right to life and l iberty.

Justifying his actions, Gen Musharraf alleged that the Judiciary had even forced him to release terrorists captured in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad. This was rather odd given the fact that two judges — Mr Justice Abbasi and Mr Justice Khokhar — who were the most zealous in getting the terrorists released, have now sworn allegiance to him.

This has naturally raised questions on whether they had conspired with Gen Musharraf to demand the release of the terrorists, in order to discredit the Supreme Court. Making Gen Musharraf’s rationale for the slaughter of judicial independence seem even more ridiculous, was the fact that on the very next day after he imposed martial law, he approved the release of 20 captured terrorists, to secure the release of over 200 soldiers captured by the pro-Taliban tribal leader in Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud.

The failed writ

Apart from his tirade against the Judiciary, Gen Musharraf held out the spectre of a takeover of Pakistan by pro-Taliban religious extremists as the primary reason for his action. But he has not answered why he has allowed the situation in Pakistan to deteriorate to such an extent that the writ of the Pakistan Government over the tribal areas and large parts of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan, no longer exists.

How is it that he allowed a group or radicals to seize control of the Lal Masjid (located just over a mile away from his office) and virtually terrorise the people of the capital city of Islamabad?

One has to analyse precisely how Gen Musharraf’s misplaced policies of gaining “strategic depth” in Afghanistan by seeking to make it a client state by propping up the Taliban and of continuing efforts to “bleed India with a thousand cuts” through jihadi groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-taiba have badly backfired and undermined the security of Pakistan itself.

Duplicity

Gen Musharraf’s present predicament lies primarily in his duplicity in his self-proclaimed role of a “frontline ally” in George Bush’s war on terrorism, which commenced with the ouster of the Taliban from Afghanistan. American military operations were badly executed, resulting in the Taliban leadership escaping to Baluchistan and finding shelter in places such as Quetta. Osama bin Laden, and his Al Qaeda, Chechen, Uzbek and Uighur supporters from Xingjian, however, found shelter in the tribal areas of Waziristan in Pakistan’s NWFP.

For over three years, the ISI permitted the Taliban leaders including Mullah Omar to seek haven in Quetta and the NWFP. A rejuvenated, regrouped and rearmed Taliban stepped up attacks since 2006, inflicting huge casualties on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. This led to the Americans forcing Gen Musharraf to crack down on pro-Taliban elements in the tribal areas, compelling him to adopt a duplicitous policy of giving support to the Taliban leadership in Baluchistan, while cracking down on them in the tribal areas.

Disastrous operations

The operations by the Pakistan army in the tribal areas have been disastrous. Over 1,000 soldiers have been killed in the shootouts and suicide bombings. Around 400 officers and men face court martial proceedings for refusing to fight against “fellow Muslims”. Around 500 men, including officers, have surrendered to pro-Taliban militants, without firing a shot.

As indiscriminate air attacks by the Pakistan Air Force and army helicopter gunships caused mounting civilian casualties, the tribals retaliated with suicide bombings on Pakistan army installations including the elite Special Services Group (SSG) once commanded by Gen Musharraf himself, the ISI personnel in Rawalpindi and the strategic Sargodha air base in Punjab. Tribal anger was further fuelled by reports that the SSG killed around 300 Pashtun women students when they stormed the Lal Masjid in July.

Dangerous divide

Moreover, signs of a Shia-Sunni divide are appearing for the first time in the Pakistan armed forces with reports that units of the predominantly Shia Northern Light Infantry (used by Gen Musharraf in Kargil) have been brought into Waziristan, with the tribals retaliating by selectively killing Shia soldiers captured by them.

Gen Musharraf will use coercion and force to deal with political opponents, as he has now virtually ruled out either ending martial law, or quitting as Army Chief soon. He has been helped by the fact that his dealings with Ms Benazir Bhutto have eroded her credibility and dimmed the prospects of a unified opposition confronting him.

Most reports now suggest that in the Punjab Province, Mr Nawaz Sharif enjoys greater political support than Ms Benazir Bhutto. But Mr Nawaz is not a favoured politician of the Americans and, given the fact that Gen Musharraf has made it clear that he will not reinstate the judges he has fired, Mr Nawaz will almost certainly be arrested and possibly packed off to Saudi Arabia again if he chooses to return.

Thus, with the backing of the MQM in Karachi and his chosen Chief Minister, Mr Pervez Elahi, calling the shots in Lahore, any attempt to mobilise crowds to demonstrate against Gen Musharraf will be crushed, both in Punjab and urban Sind.

Grip weakening

Gen Musharraf now faces the prospect of his power being gradually eroded, primarily because he is so widely disliked and distrusted within Pakistan. Sharia law is now effectively in force across the NWFP, with men being forced to grow beards, barber shops and video parlours forcibly shut down, those not observing regular prayers being whipped in public, women not being permitted to go to shops unescorted by a male family member, educational institutions for girls shut down, ancient Buddhist sculptures and statues being defaced and destroyed, and an illegal radio station in the picturesque Swat Valley run by Mullah Fazlullah, spouting venom.

All this is the result of nine years of Gen Musharraf’s policies of “enlightened moderation”. Given the massive deployment of its forces on its western frontiers, Pakistan will naturally not want to provoke India, especially when India has been more than careful in ensuring that it is not seen to be fishing in Pakistan’s troubled waters.

But policies, like circumstances, change and there is no place for misplaced sentimentalism in dealing with the mercurial General who rules our western neighbour.

Gen Musharraf has violated the assurance he gave the then Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee in January 2004, when he declared that he would not allow “territory under Pakistan’s control” to be used for terrorism against India.

His officials now refuse to discuss allegations of ISI involvement in terrorist activities in J&K with their Indian counterparts in Dr. Manmohan Singh’s ill-advised brainchild, the “Joint Terror Mechanism,” on the grounds that the violence in Jammu & Kashmir is not terrorism, but a “freedom struggle”.

Our western neighbour has not yet renounced the use of terrorism as an instrument of State policy in its relations with either Afghanistan or India.

(The author is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan.)